The Ascorbic Acid Content of Blood Plasma of Laying Hens

Abstract

THE liver, kidney, suprarenals, brain, and other organs of the chick have been found to contain relatively large amounts of vitamin C. Hart, Steenbock, Lepkovsky, and Halpin (1925) reported that 3 grams of liver from a chick maintained on a scorbutic ration for 83 days constituted a curative dose for scorbutic guinea pigs. They also found an abundance of vitamin C in the livers of chicks fed a ration of grains and heated skimmilk. In the same study these investigators found that chicks did not develop scurvy when fed a ration of purified food materials—dextrin, casein, salts, and so forth. The livers from these chicks were a potent source of vitamin C.Carrick and Hauge (1925) found ascorbic acid in the livers and kidneys of cockerels after an extended period of feeding a scorbutic diet. Hauge and Carrick (1926) reported that they found an abundant supply of the antiscorbutic .